MADRID – Leaders of Europe’s far-right parties gathered in Madrid on Saturday for a Patriots for Europe summit, rallying behind Donald Trump’s return to power and promoting a nationalist agenda under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again.”
The event featured high-profile figures, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, and Dutch PVV head Geert Wilders.
“The Trump tornado has transformed the world in just a few weeks… Yesterday we were the outcasts, today we are mainstream,” Orbán told a crowd of approximately 2,000 supporters, many waving Spanish flags.
Calls for a ‘New Reconquista’ and Opposition to Immigration
A dominant theme of the gathering was strong opposition to immigration, with several speakers invoking the idea of a “New Reconquista,” referencing the Medieval Christian re-conquest of Muslim-controlled Iberia.
Former Estonian Finance Minister Martin Helme kicked off the rally, following a video message from Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. However, his speech was briefly interrupted by a topless activist from feminist group Femen, who chanted “Not one step back against fascism” in Spanish before being removed by security.
Other key talking points included criticism of “wokism”—a term used pejoratively to describe progressive stances on race, gender, and identity—along with attacks on migrant rescue NGOs, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose names were met with loud boos from the audience.
The Growing Influence of Patriots for Europe
Formed after the May 2024 European elections, Patriots for Europe is now the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament, comprising 86 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from 14 countries, representing a total of 19 million votes.
Madrid was chosen as the location for the summit, allowing Patriots’ president Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s Vox party, to play host. The Spanish Socialist Party, currently in power, dismissed the event as a “coven of extremists”, vowing that “their black-and-white worldview will not prevail in this country.”
Despite Vox’s rising popularity, particularly among young men, military personnel, and law enforcement, according to the Centre for Sociological Studies (CIS), the far-right movement remains divided. Some of Europe’s most influential nationalist parties, including Italy’s Brothers of Italy (Giorgia Meloni’s party), Alternative for Germany (AfD), and Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS), have so far declined to join the Patriots alliance.